Perry Como: The Living Legend (2-CD)

(1992/ARCADE) 40 tracks RCA Stereo.Pierino Como, born in Canonsburg, Pensilvania an May l8th 1912,
initially making his living as a barber, was to become a living Legend
simply by being himself. Perry started his singing career in 1933. He
made his first record, as "vocal refrain", with the Ted Weems Band in
1936. The Legend really began in the midst of a musicians strike in 1943
when Perry made his first solo recording, "Goodbye Sue". This special
Collection, in the year of Perry's 80th Birthday, contains ALL his UK
hits, plus songs forever associated with the Como relaxed style. 'DREAM
ALONG WITH ME' was the theme tune to Perry's TV shows in the 1950's.
Fans have recently been able to wallow in the sheer nostalgia of it all
with the release of video's of those early shows. No one has ever been
able to make the medium his own, quite like Perry. While the TV shows
were watched by millions throughout the World Perry's hits were mostly
'novelty' songs. They are all here; ' PAPA LOVES MAMBO", 'HOT DIGGITTY'
and rarer titles like 'JUKE BOX BABY' and 'GLENDORA'. Perry's venture
into Rock 'n' Roll was most successful. Even today in Rock 'n' Roll
discos Perry's 'LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND' and 'KEWPIE DOLL' are
frequently requested.'IDLE GOSSIP' makes it's first appearance since
its success in 1954 . The song spent 15 weeks in the UK charts and
reached No.3. It has been one of the most sought after Como tracks since
then, but mysteriously never re-released until this collection. Perry
has always been a deeply private and religious man. Several of his
recordings reflect this.In this collection we have his hits, 'I MAY
NEVER PASS THIS WAY AGAIN' and 'I BELIEVE' - together with Perry's own
personal favourite recording 'AVE MARIA'. In 1967, in the midst of the
60's Revolution, Perry scored a hit with a simple little tune about 'THE
FATHER OF GIRLS'.The message of the song is for all generations of
Father's, and no one can sing it with more sincerity than Perry. His sell-out tour of the UK in 1975 was preceded by his predominance in the Charts.'IT'S
IMPOSSIBLE' in 1971, and in 1973 'AN I LOVE YOU SO' and 'FOR THE GOOD
TIMES' spent no less than 48 weeks in the UK Charts. A record in itself.
Perry's last recording to date is also included in this collection.
Made in 1987 'THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS' has become a firm favourite an
Perry's Concert Circuit. (Michael Dunnington 1992)

Idle Gossip - bargain collection - out of print now!

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Artikeleigenschaften von Perry Como: The Living Legend (2-CD)

Interpret: Perry Como

Albumtitel: The Living Legend (2-CD)

Format
CD

Genre
Pop

Music Genre
Pop

Music Style
Pop Vocal

Music Sub-Genre
281 Pop Vocal

Title
The Living Legend (2-CD)

Release date
1992

Label
ARCADE

SubGenre
Pop - Vocal Pop

EAN: 5024007946326

weight in Kg 0.210

Artist description "Como, Perry"

Perry Como

Pietro and Lucia Como arrived in the United States from Italy around 1903. They settled in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, just southwest of Pittsburgh, across the river from Steubenville, Ohio where Dean Martin, another son of first generation Italian immigrants, grew up. For the Comos, the New World was an almost exact replica of the Old. Pietro worked at Standard Tin Plate, but he and Lucia continued to speak Italian, never learning more than a few words of English until they died. They ate the food and drank the wine of the old country, attended church, and sang the songs they'd always sung. Women with less than five children were thought barren; the Comos had thirteen. Some were born in the old world, some in the new. Pierino, or Perry as he became known, arrived on May 18, 1912, the seventh son of a seventh son.

Third Avenue in Canonsburg is now Perry Como Avenue. Just the idea of it elicited a wince from Perry. He didn't like that sort of thing. For the first five years that Perry ran up and down what would become Perry Como Avenue, he didn't speak English. He only began picking it up when he went to school. The mines and the mills where many of the immigrants worked were not for him: he would be a 'barbiere.' Nick Tosches reckoned that between one-half and two-thirds of Italian immigrants declared that they were 'barbieri.' Even the great Caruso had been a barbiere. Perry started apprenticing when he was twelve, and took over an established business when he was fourteen with two grown men working for him. "A haircut was fifty cents; now I pay twenty bucks. Maybe I got out too soon," he said. Another shrug. Maybe he'd told that joke too often. Perry had a guitar, and led his own barbershop quartet in his own barbershop, and played valve trombone in a brass marching band. On July 4 and Italian saints' days, they would parade around Canonsburg. "My father walked right alongside me in the crowd," said Perry. "That's-a-my boy, you know. He loved music."

When it came to singing, Perry freely admitted to two influences, Russ Columbo and Bing Crosby. Perry always went out of his way to acknowledge Crosby's influence. Crosby has been portrayed as unlovable, sour-tempered, and miserly, but that's not the way Perry remembered him. "He was supposed to be surly, tough, but he was never that way with me," he said. "He was gentle. We got along. Played golf, did each other's shows, but he couldn't take a compliment. One time we did a duet on television, and I said, 'If it hadn't been for him, folks, I'd still be cutting hair.' He was embarrassed, almost insulted. Afterward, he said, 'Perry, don't say that.'"

Around the time that Crosby became really popular in 1931 and 1932, Perry was getting up on stage around Canonsburg to sing the hits of the hour. Then, during a spring vacation in Cleveland in 1933, he went to see a local bandleader, Freddie Carlone, and auditioned. Carlone offered him a job, but Perry's barber shop was a thriving business netting him around $40 a week, and he needed some prodding from his father to go with Carlone who was only offering $28. He met the band at a park in Meadville, Pennsylvania. His girlfriend, Roselle Belline, came up there with him. Neither could face their parents if they weren't married so they went to see a justice of the peace in Meadville on July 31, 1933, just a few days after Perry officially changed profession. For years, he kept up his membership in the Barbers Guild. Just in case.

Carlone led what was known as a territory band. It had thirteen pieces and they toured up and down the Ohio valley, and did a little radio but never recorded. When they weren't working, Carlone's brother would take Perry to a club in Cleveland where he would sing for tips. "Some guy would ask to hear 'Melancholy Baby,' I'd sing it, he'd put a buck into a jar," said Perry. "I did better with that than I did with the band." It was around this time that amplification became commonplace. Prior to that, singers would use megaphones. Perry had a megaphone with stardust painted on it. Now he was confronted with the new technology, but was slow to embrace it. "Freddie would say, 'Sing in the goddamn thing!'" he remembered, "and I'd say, 'No, I want to sing with the megaphone,' so in the end I sang through the megaphone into the microphone and it sounded awful. I don't think I ever knew how bad."

Carlone's band was run by three brothers, and Perry was treated as the fourth Carlone. After a show, they'd pay off the band, then do a four-way split. Perry felt so much a part of the outfit that he didn't even respond to a wire from the self-styled 'King of Jazz,' Paul Whiteman, offering him a job. Carlone tried to persuade him to leave, but Perry was adamant that he wanted to stay, and, when an offer came from Ted Weems in 1935, Carlone had to push him out the door. Weems had heard Perry at a casino in Warren, Ohio, and wired him. "Ted was the same kind of man as Freddie," said Perry. "Gentle. A gentleman. I was doing well, sending money home to my dad, ten dollars, twelve dollars. Roselle came with me on the road. We had an old Packard, we'd load it up, put a mattress in there for my son Ronnie who was just a few months old, and we'd hit the road. California. Wherever."